Henry janes



(No Model.) H. JANES,

VIBRATOR FOR REED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. No; 518,957. v Patented May 1,1894.

/Q-ZZZZ MM UNITED ST TES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY JANES, OF WATERBURY, VERMONT.

VIBRATOR FOR REED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 518,957, dated May 1, 1894.

Application filed April 29, 1891.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY J ANES, of Waterbury, in the county of Washington and State of Vermont, have invented a new and Improved Reed for Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to produce tones more nearly resembling those of open flue pipes than has heretofore been done by single sets of reeds.

Reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification.

Figures 1, 2 and 3 are sectional side views of an ordinary reed and reed tubes showing the manner of slotting the vibratorand the reed block.

A, is the vibrator; B, reed block or reed tube; S, Figs. 1 and 2, slots in vibrator; D, Fig. 3, slot in reed block or tube at end of eschalot; F, lug which holds reed tube in position.

The gist of my invention consists in the generation of one or more harmonious overtones, in addition to the fundamental tone of the reed, by the partial release of the wind pressure, once or more, in the middle of each oscillation of the vibrator. For this purpose I notch, or slot, transversely, more or less deeply, once or more, the free end of the vibrator as shown at S, Figs. l and 2, the reed block at the corresponding end of the eschalot being brought to an edge so as to be considerably thinner than the width ofthe slot. This allows of a partial release of the wind pressure at the middle of each vibration and so produces in addition to the fundamental tone of the vibrator, one or more higher octaves according to the number of slots. By this means a heavy reed is made to speak more quickly, the volume of tone is considerably augmented and approximates that of an open flue pipe; the open diapason quality being best produced by vibrators of rather large scale, deeply slotted, with the limbs kept flat at the ends. This quality is bestbrought out in the lower part of the register, with heavy vibrators having a large arc of vibration. In the high pitched reeds of the upper part of the register the vibrators being of course too thin for slotting, this partial release of the wind pressure is produced by making the slot or notch in the reed block, at the end of the eschalot corresponding to the free extremity of the vibrator, the vibrator being made thinner at its free end than the width of the notch, as shown at D, Fig. 3. If desired, the slot or notch may be made by soldering to the reed block or vibrator a properly shaped piece of metal.

I claim as new and wish to patent- The vibrator slotted transversely at its free end, as shown and described, for the purpose of producing, in addition to the fundamental tone of the reed, overtones one or more 00- taves higher.

HENRY JYANES.

Witnesses:

GEORGE W. KENNEDY, F. B. JANEs. 

